Metallica - St. Anger

I just don't get the hate on this album. Sure, it's totally different to anything else they've done, but damn it's still so good. I love the rawer sound, and the riffs and drums are just rocking!

Am I the only person who thinks this album is so bad is good?

Written by Gothic Metalhead on 09.12.2020 at 06:54

Am I the only person who thinks this album is so bad is good?

I havent heard of anybody yet who thinks this album "is so bad is good". So, yes, I guess so.

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I havent heard of anybody yet who thinks this album "is so bad is good". So, yes, I guess so.

I think it's a bad album but I gave it a 7 because it still entertaining in an ironic way. For laughter

This was the first Metallica album I ever listened to back when it was released, and I'm still just in shock now, as I was back in the day by it. After all these years just thinking about this album makes me cringe, it's not the Metallica that once was for sure. I understand bands eventually need change, but this was not for the better.

I found the lyrics to the title song embarrassing to listen to, the chorus was annoying and cheesy as hell, and "Frantic" was a total shocker! In fact all the songs on this album are pretty bad imo.

Thankfully I discovered their earlier material and I wasn't put off by the band completely, it's hard to think the same band had released Ride The Lightning, but not many bands can produce masterpiece after masterpiece.

Best of the 'bottom 20' !
I give it a 3 just because of "FRANTIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TOC" and "PURIFAAA-YEEEEEEEEEE"

I don't think I ever made it through a full listen tbh. Horrible sound, horrible production, terrible lyrically. Awful.

Immaculate production, that snare reminded me why I love metal music.

Fran-tic-tic-tic-tic-toc!

I appreciate the raw anger on this album and the messy instrumentation actually adds to that rawness. This was probably Metallica's way of emulating their earliest garage days.

However, the execution is really bad. It's just not enjoyable to listen to. The vocals are very weak, the drumming sounds like some hobo hitting a trashcan, the riffs can be ok but other times they make simply annoying sounds.
This album sounds like how non-metalheads think all metal sounds like

Like others have said here, it's actually kind of impressive how such talented musicians could have fallen from the musical genius of Ride the Lightning to... this.

I've always been afraid to listen to Load, Reload and this album, since all I ever heard were bad things, expecially regarding St. Anger, that was pretty known to be the worst one.
Finally, I have recently decided to go for it, and I want to talk expecially about this one.
I hated Load and Reload at first, it took me about 4 or 5 complete listens to start to appreciate them a little, so I was going into this expecting completely awful shit, something more pop than metal, something unlistenable.
Was i wrong? Yes, I was wrong af. The album is not bad at all. Yes, it is totally different from their previous works, but it has energy and (some) originality and it surly is a metal album. I can understand how someone could be bothered from the drum sound, or the lack of solos, but that's not my case. I enjoyed it first listen, and was hoocked by some songs on the second one.
Sure, they are not Ride the Lightning Metallica's, but we already knew that. Their worst curse and their best blessing at the same time, is to be the band that have given us some of the best music of all time, so that they are always compared to themselves, but if you can avoid it and judge this album for just what it is, I think it's a pretty enjoyable listen...
It's at least better than Load and Reload, and their mostly uninspired hard rock radio formula...

Frantic and St Anger are fun songs. Everything else is just a garbled mess. It’s not accessible music for just about anybody

I don't care what everyone says - snare drum here is awesome! First two songs is okay.
Awful album... 2/10 +2 points for snare drum!

The only problem with this album is that some songs are too long.Apart from this...... I think it's very creative.

I originally gave this 1, but later I listened it again and changed it to 6. It seems my whole worldview has changed massively over the years, and so has my taste in music. Recently I listened a fan re-make of this album, and now I think the original album is actually fine and kinda cool, but the god-awful production ruins it. But you know what? I still respect this album and what Metallica tried to accomplish here. They could've just released another easy peasy cookie cutter album and milk the fans, but instead they tried something completely new that almost worked okay.

Written by Metal Fromage on 29.05.2024 at 17:47

I originally gave this 1, but later I listened it again and changed it to 6. It seems my whole worldview has changed massively over the years, and so has my taste in music. Recently I listened a fan re-make of this album, and now I think the original album is actually fine and kinda cool, but the god-awful production ruins it. But you know what? I still respect this album and what Metallica tried to accomplish here. They could've just released another easy peasy cookie cutter album and milk the fans, but instead they tried something completely new that almost worked okay.

I kinda agree with you. The production is the thing that ruins the album, not the songwriting. Except for "Frantic". That song is abysmal and probably the worst one they've written.

Written by Metal Fromage on 29.05.2024 at 17:47

I originally gave this 1, but later I listened it again and changed it to 6. It seems my whole worldview has changed massively over the years, and so has my taste in music. Recently I listened a fan re-make of this album, and now I think the original album is actually fine and kinda cool, but the god-awful production ruins it. But you know what? I still respect this album and what Metallica tried to accomplish here. They could've just released another easy peasy cookie cutter album and milk the fans, but instead they tried something completely new that almost worked okay.

I also listened to a re-working of St Anger, I don't know if we're talking about the same thing. Surprisingly I liked the re-working, but the musicians that did that trimmed the fat, that "album" is around 15 minutes shorter, the drumming is better and the guitar tone is different and again better (IMO obviously).

Written by John_Doe on 30.05.2024 at 09:29

I also listened to a re-working of St Anger, I don't know if we're talking about the same thing. Surprisingly I liked the re-working, but the musicians that did that trimmed the fat, that "album" is around 15 minutes shorter, the drumming is better and the guitar tone is different and again better (IMO obviously).

It might be the same, yeah. Metallica should consider hiring their fans to help write and produce their albums. Considering how popular the band is all around the world, there should be enough talented and creative individuals to handle the job for far cheaper than some big name producer. Like seriously, why not have a contest or something and just pick the best and give some medal for other participants. Back in the day they used this method with some TV productions, and talented people flooded in like crazy.

Written by pope.88 on 02.05.2022 at 05:15

I've always been afraid to listen to Load, Reload and this album, since all I ever heard were bad things, expecially regarding St. Anger, that was pretty known to be the worst one.
Finally, I have recently decided to go for it, and I want to talk expecially about this one.
I hated Load and Reload at first, it took me about 4 or 5 complete listens to start to appreciate them a little, so I was going into this expecting completely awful shit, something more pop than metal, something unlistenable.
Was i wrong? Yes, I was wrong af. The album is not bad at all. Yes, it is totally different from their previous works, but it has energy and (some) originality and it surly is a metal album. I can understand how someone could be bothered from the drum sound, or the lack of solos, but that's not my case. I enjoyed it first listen, and was hoocked by some songs on the second one.
Sure, they are not Ride the Lightning Metallica's, but we already knew that. Their worst curse and their best blessing at the same time, is to be the band that have given us some of the best music of all time, so that they are always compared to themselves, but if you can avoid it and judge this album for just what it is, I think it's a pretty enjoyable listen...
It's at least better than Load and Reload, and their mostly uninspired hard rock radio formula...

I totally agree. I have raised this album to 8 points. I like to hear new and creative music. After all, it can bring me different feelings. Repeating the same sound over and over again will only make me bored. And... since these old bands can't surpass their peak works, don't think about trying to return to make low-end copies of their past works, but be bold and do something unexpected.

I understand how young fans can get along, but one can't never forget that this album is a beacon of terrible decision made by Metallica in producing an absloute turd sitting right next to Lulu.

Frantic was surprisingly decent so I went into this expecting it to be alright after all, then the rest of the album happened. It's not particularly good but I've heard a lot worse. I'd probably still take this over Load.

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Written by Gothic Metalhead on 09.12.2020 at 23:14

I havent heard of anybody yet who thinks this album "is so bad is good". So, yes, I guess so.

I think it's a bad album but I gave it a 7 because it still entertaining in an ironic way. For laughter

Haha, well that´s maybe the only argument pro St Anger. I think the rest is said. What a waste on resources.

I enjoyed St.Anger, never understood why all the hate though many good songs despite the raw production. I think the only Metallica record which I really couldn't stand is Lulu.

Only learning now that there is an alternate fan-made mix of some of these songs. Had they fixed the drum sound (and Lars in general), I genuinely think this would've been their best song since the 80's:

My personal Top 3 songs from the album:

St. Anger
Frantic
The Unnamed Feeling

Written by Gothic Metalhead on 09.12.2020 at 23:14

I think it's a bad album but I gave it a 7 because it still entertaining in an ironic way. For laughter

I've never been able to do that with music, a "so bad it's entertaining" movie now and then, maybe, but with music, I'm afraid not.

Yeah I can do that for a song or two, but I can barely sit through a 9/10 album that's an hour and fifteen minutes long.